/ The Sunflower
THURSDAY Sept. 9, 2021 Volume 126 Issue 5
WICHITA STATE’S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1896
@sunflowernews @thesunflowernews
www.thesunflower.com
SGA’s Diversity Week aims to educate the student body and community
TIE IT & DYE IT
BY EMMIE BOESE elboese15@gmail.com / @elboese15
PHOTO BY KHANH NGUYEN / THE SUNFLOWER
Exchange student Nadia Pfanni dyes her shirt at Tie-Dye Tuesday. The event was held on Sept. 7 in front of the Rhatigan Student Center. For more photos and coverage on this event, turn to page 5.
The Student Government Association and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion — along with other campus organizations — will kick off Diversity Week on Saturday, Sept. 11. The week will feature a series of events focusing on educating the student body and WSU community. “We put a lot of effort, a lot of hours into this, reaching out to these different organizations, different departments,” SGA Vice President Kamilah Gumbs said. Topics will include race, gender, ethnicities, political beliefs, disabilities, among other important topics. There will be panels, crafts and food festivals each day on several of these topics. Diversity Week was started due to the results from a climate survey in 2019. Based off the results from the survey, the Student Government saw that some students did not feel comfortable on campus. Because Wichita State has one of the most diverse campuses in Kansas, SGA wanted to provide students an opportunity to embrace diversity. “[We want to] ensure that … students really have … this big opportunity to get to know a little bit more about the people they go to school with,” Gumbs said. To find out more about diversity week you can go to https://www. wichita.edu/student_life/sga/ SGA_Events/diversityweek.php. There you can find a schedule of the events throughout the week and details on each event.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, Senator Jerry Moran visit campus to discuss new 777 passenger to freight project BY JULIA NIGHTENGALE news@thesunflower.com / @JuliaNightengale
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overnor Laura Kelly and Senator Jerry Moran paid campus a visit Wednesday to speak about the expansion of the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Program (MRO). The press conference was held at WERX on WSU’s NIAR campus and hosted multiple speakers who spoke of their excitement for the expanding Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Program (MRO). The media and students were also taken on a tour of the 777 passenger aircraft, which will be converted by the Kansas Modification Center into a freight plane to meet the growing needs of the e-commerce and express cargo market. Jim Gibbs, president of the Kansas Modification Center, said that they decided to put an MRO station in Kansas at this facility because of the support that they get from the university, local manufacturers, and local city council members. Gibbs said that in the next ten years, he sees thousands of employees working for this facility. “I would like to congratulate all of you here today for the accomplishment of bringing this aircraft here to Wichita,” Gibbs said. “So it is very difficult to convince an operator to bring an asset of this size and this value to a company that has not done a lot of MRO’s.
“Luckily, there is no better state than Kansas to take full advantage of the 777 passenger freedom project.” LAURA KELLY Governor of Kansas
“Over the next 25 months, we will hope to continue to surprise our competition, the OEM, and our customers with the delivery and the performance of the modifications we do on this aircraft.” Governor Laura Kelly said that her administration will be a partner to help complete this project. “Together, we will strengthen our aviation sector for now and for future generations,” Kelly said. “Luckily, there is no better state than Kansas to take full advantage of the 777 passenger freedom project.” Kelly said that education has an important role of being in charge of shaping the future generation of aviation workers. “Here in Kansas, our colleges and universities play a simple role in our state’s continued success,” Kelly said. “They take a dynamic approach to .. creating jobs, nurturing the next generation of thinkers, and responding to their communities needs.” Kelly said that technical education programs at WSU attract young aviation workers. She said
PHOTO BY LENA ALHALLAQ / THE SUNFLOWER
Governor Laura Kelly speaks about the new 777 passenger freight project at a press conference held on campus on Sept. 8.
that she looks forward to future collaborations and announcements like this one. “Today is just the beginning of something big, which will boost our economic development opportunities for our state and community for years to come,” Kelly said. “I’m really excited to see this project move forward and become one of the many reasons Wichita is known as the air capital of the world.” Senator Moran said that the
composition of this community is made up of entrepreneurs, workers, an education system rooted in research, and technical skills. “A country that is in desperate need of people who know how to use their brains and their hands to make something happen .. you get what we have happening here today, what this moment represents, which is just a moment in a long history of a better Wichita and a better Kansas because of this one circumstance that we are
announcing today,” Moran Moran said that other cities in this country would love to be the air capital of the world, and the competition is great. “Wichita is, and will remain, the air capital of the world because of the assets that we just talked about. We are on the path to a better future, a brighter future … We have the best companies, the best employees, the latest technology, the latest developments,” Moran said.